Barbi Bassett will get her day in court this summer as she takes on her former employer, WLBT. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III scheduled her trial:
Final Pretrial Order, Jury Instructions, Exhibit Lists, and Witness Lists due by July 16, 2025. Jury Trial set for July 21, 2025 at 8:30 AM (ELT: 5 days). The parties are to inform the Court by May 9, 2025 the status on settlement. NO FURTHER WRITTEN ORDER SHALL ISSUE FROM THE COURT. Signed by District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III on May 1, 2025.(SP)
It appears the settlement conference failed.
Kingfish note: If you want to brush up on the case, read this earlier post.
41 comments:
Go get them Barbie!
Make Racist Comments Great Again!
Will WLBT have live coverage? Asking for WAPT.
@12:11 you are always the first to post a race baited comment any post on this site.
A question for you armchair attorneys out there. Does Barbie have a chance of winning on the grounds she chose?
Hope she wins. What occurred was asinine.
Yes she can win. Case will settle before trial though.
I don’t believe either of her comments were racially motivated. The first was a name she used for her own grandmother—something personal and endearing to her. The second, referenced a Snoop Dogg song. She’s a fan of his and simply repeated a line from his music.
Neither comment had any racial intent. Unfortunately, people sometimes assign racial meaning where none was intended. If Barbie were Black, this situation likely would have been resolved much faster. What’s happening here is discrimination against Barbie. It’s a reminder that the issue of discrimination isn’t limited to one group—it affects people across all lines: age, sex, and race.
It will settle, if not before trial start, certainly before it goes to judge/jury. The settlement will be sealed. Once WLBT realizes they are hosed, they will settle to be able to seal the amount. What they don't realize is that it costs them more every day. The cheapest settlement is the quickest settlement.
Race cards are what holds Jackson up.
Ames v Ohio
How does it work?
Yes, she has a chance of winning. Judge Jordan could have kicked the case out on summary judgment because she did not have a case, either legally and/or factually, but he denied WLBT's motion. This means that she likely, but not definitely, has at least a chance of winning her case.
She will win. All she did was repeat something puff ditty said and there was a 3 day freak off.
I plan to attend. Hope to see you there.
This is not going to end well for Barbie. She kept calling African-American colleagues “girl” long after it was deemed socially unacceptable for whites to call African-American adults boy and girl. WLBT has too many reported and documented cases of this behavior.
I went back and read the prior story KF wrote and it reminded me that Patrick Ellis didn’t stay very long after that. Am I correct that to say it looked as if he was offended? The young woman that took Barbie’s place had a difficult time adjusting and misread a lot of stories using wrong pronunciations. Just saying, Barbie could do the show with her eyes closed and she was really the only reason many of us watched it. I tuned them out because I could see where this was going.
Guess you have to be a jack town member to be racist these days.
Are there any pending dispositive motions?
It was singularly the on-air riposte of Patrick Ellis that pushed the chuckle fest into the twilight zone. I recall watching the whole thing as it unfolded. I thought, he's hatching a problem where there's not one.
Yeah, Girl is not racist, literally everybody that is somewhat close to someone says it constantly--it is a term of familiarity..
Leisurely read the depositions. Not good at all for WLBT especially knowing it will be all over the news again.
it will be a war alright , but miz barbie is represented by the legal equiviant of general george patton.
Barbie thinks she is the smartest, prettiest hot woman on this earth, get over it. Your washed up, stay home and make candles like you told everyone on the air you and your business were starting side job! Walk away, rejected, oh and I am white! Grow up!
She was fired over non- maliciously causing hurtie feelings. Gray TV did this due to FCC over watch.
Jackson, the land of "victim-hood."
She'll take the stand. All she's got to do is act dumb and victimized. That won't be hard for her at all.
Jackson is a house of race cards.
Go Barbie. For what is right and when racism is really racism and not just an honest mistake in wording.
Girl, she's gonna win this thing fo' shizzle.
Go girl! Oh wait, the PC/race baiters/real racists don't allow us white folk to say/pen the "g" word. OK, go gril.
@ "Barbie thinks she is the smartest, prettiest hot woman on this earth, get over it. Your washed up, stay home and make candles like you told everyone on the air you and your business were starting side job! Walk away, rejected, oh and I am white! Grow up!"
Maybe she's not smart, but I'll bet $5 she's smart enough to find the errors in your comment that make you look not so smart.
I don't doubt that she probably had no idea what "my nizzle" stood for however the whole grandmammy thing came off as kind of racist. Just the tone in which she talked the whole time, its like she was trying to sound black or something. I'm 50/50 on the firing, was probably her time to be shown the door anyway given the jackson demographics.
The WLBT viewing area is more than just Jackson demographics. Several counties in Central MS including those predominately white counties of Rankin and Madison.
I guess Wilson Stribling is the only white representation I get.
@ 10:52 - can you "act" victimized when you really are a victim?
if the majority of the country can't recite or sing lyrics from a song without being branded a racist, then there is something wrong with the lyrics and society, not the person reciting/singing the lyrics.
She has a shot at winning. However, the station does not want the prolonged and very public race controversy and (right before trial) will make a very strong final settlement offer which will include a positive appreciation statement for BB and a non-disclosure agreement by both parties.
This all being said, BB must have some serious ignorance to have said the first off-color comment and then to have followed it up with the second. As long as she's been around, she should know better. She should be narrating and doing taped stuff like Walt Grayson does so that these faux pas' can be edited out.
I just want to see her in her cheerleader dress again. That was epic television!
Seems like everyone gets their feelings hurt over nothing these days. Years ago when Walt Grayson was with WLBT 3 he commented that one of his favorite things to do at the Jackson Zoo was to throw cigarette butts at the critters on Monkey Island. Evidently Howard Ballou and Maggie Wade didn’t take offense at this.
No matter how she meant it, a 65 year old woman using urban/hip hop references on a newscast is cringy AF and she deserved to get fired (IMO).
I Gahr-Rohn-Tee she ain't never called her grandmother Mammie!
May 13, 8:56 pm - Girl, you’re desperately in need of help, in more ways than one, your grammar could certainly use some help and your jealousy is overflowing, you should be embarrassed of yourself.
May 13, 12:11 pm - you crack me up!
May 14, 7:02 pm - you do realize we are not talking about Barbie Millicent Roberts, right? And even still, you’d be wrong about her age.
@8:47 AM
this is May 13, 12:11 pm
Thanks BB. I’m glad I made you laugh 🤣
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